Road Traffic Noise Levels Research Articles

An Empirical Model of Road Traffic Noise on Heterogeneous Traffic Situation

The motorcycle domination on heterogeneous traffic situation in many cities in developing countries including Indonesia leads to the decreasing of environment qualities such noise pollution. Regarding the road traffic noise (RTN) pollution, this paper attempts to develop an empirical model for a RTN prediction model. The model based on a motorcycle unit as reference unit to consider flow rate of the road traffic which dominated by motorcycles. The study collected the RTN data such volume of each vehicle types, i.e., motorcycle; light vehicle; and high vehicle, and the noise level on the forty arterial roads in Makassar, Indonesia. The survey methods based on the traffic count method and the measurement noise level using a video camera and a sound level meter, respectively. We collected data during ten minutes of each one-hour period of each road. The empirical relationship models between the noise level and the traffic volume based on the motorcycle unit were developed using various types of regression models. The results showed that the polynomial model is more significant than the other models. We expected that the model provides a basic RTN prediction model in order to simulate some measures of the traffic management system in reducing the RTN level in Makassar City.

The relationship between road traffic noise and annoyance levels in Phuket Province, Thailand

Road traffic noise generates unpleasant sounds in communities, which not only makes enormous noise pollution in road areas, but also disrupts the quality of life in buildings located near these roads. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between road traffic noise and annoyance levels in Phuket, Thailand. Traffic noise levels were measured during the day and night time on nine roads in Muang Phuket, Thalang, and Kathu Districts. The annoyance levels of 253 people living in these areas were determined using questionnaires. Noise annoyance level was estimated using the ICBEN method, which classified annoyance level into a five-point verbal scale (extremely, very, moderately, slightly, and not at all annoyed). The results showed that traffic noise levels (Leq 24 hr) were in the range of 70.0-70.9, 72.7-74.7, and 74.6-74.8 dB(A) in Muang Phuket, Thalang, and Kathu Districts, respectively, exceeding 70 dB(A) for the ambient noise standard of Thailand. Moreover, Ldn ranged from 74.0-75.8, 77.5-78.1, and 79.7-80.1 dB(A) in Muang Phuket, Thalang, and Kathu Districts, respectively. The average annoyance scores for traffic noise in Muang Phuket, Thalang, and Kathu were found to be 1.78, 2.52, and 2.75, respectively. Thus, the average annoyance score of Phuket Province was 2.24. The annoyance responses of residents in surveyed areas indicated that people in Muang Phuket were more sensitive to road traffic noise than those in Talang and Kathu. Moreover, the result showed a significant positive correlation between road traffic noise and annoyance level (Pearson correlation coefficient= +0.733, P=0.025).

On the Impact of Anomalous Noise Events on Road Traffic Noise Mapping in Urban and Suburban Environments.

Noise pollution is a critical factor affecting public health, the relationship between road traffic noise (RTN) and several diseases in urban areas being especially disturbing. The Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC and the CNOSSOS-EU framework are the main instruments of the European Union to identify and combat noise pollution, requiring Member States to compose and publish noise maps and noise management action plans every five years. Nowadays, the noise maps are starting to be tailored by means of Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks (WASN). In order to exclusively monitor the impact of RTN on the well-being of citizens through WASN-based approaches, those noise sources unrelated to RTN denoted as Anomalous Noise Events (ANEs) should be removed from the noise map generation. This paper introduces an analysis methodology considering both Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and duration of ANEs to evaluate their impact on the A-weighted equivalent RTN level calculation for different integration times. The experiments conducted on 9 h of real-life data from the WASN-based DYNAMAP project show that both individual high-impact events and aggregated medium-impact events bias significantly the equivalent noise levels of the RTN map, making any derived study about public health impact inaccurate.

Road traffic noise and children\u2019s inattention

BackgroundAn increasing number of children are exposed to road traffic noise levels that may lead to adverse effects on health and daily functioning. Childhood is a period of intense growth and brain maturation, and children may therefore be especially vulnerable to road traffic noise. The objective of the present study was to examine whether road traffic noise was associated with reported inattention symptoms in children, and whether this association was mediated by sleep duration.MethodsThis study was based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Parental reports of children’s inattention at age 8 were linked to modelled levels of residential road traffic noise. We investigated the association between inattention and noise exposure during pregnancy (n = 1934), noise exposure averaged over 5 years (age 3 to 8 years; n = 1384) and noise exposure at age 8 years (n = 1384), using fractional logit response models. The participants were children from Oslo, Norway.ResultsAn association with inattention at age 8 years was found for road traffic noise exposure at age 8 years (coef = .0083, CI = [.0012, .0154]; 1.2% point increase in inattention score per 10 dB increase in noise level), road traffic noise exposure average for the last 5 years (coef = .0090, CI = [.0016, .0164]; 1.3% point increase/10 dB), and for pregnancy road traffic noise exposure for boys (coef = .0091, CI = [.0010, .0171]), but not girls (coef = −.0021, CI = [−.0094, .0053]). Criteria for doing mediation analyses were not fulfilled.ConclusionResults indicate that road traffic noise has a negative impact on children’s inattention. We found no mediation by sleep duration.

LONG-TERM NOISE MEASUREMENTS AND HARMONICA INDEX AS A WAY OF RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS ABOUT TRAFFIC NOISE IN THE CITY OF NIŠ

Environmental noise level monitoring in Serbia is performed in several cities and it is pursuant to the Law on Environmental Noise Protection and the accompanying regulations. Although these regulations are in accordance with the national standards, the methodology of noise monitoring varies in different cities. The issues which differ include the following: the number of measurement spots, the number of daily, weekly, and monthly measurement intervals, the duration of measurement intervals, measurement parameters and noise indicators used for noise evaluation. Different measurement procedures are the consequence of diverse city configurations, traffic structure, traffic flow, locations of noise-sensitive objects, as well as diverse contribution of noise sources. The road traffic noise level monitoring in the City of Nis has been organized from 1995 until today based on short-term measurements. The values of noise indicators are calculated based on these short-term measurements. The two newly purchased noise monitoring terminals by the Noise and Vibration Laboratory of the Faculty of Occupational Safety in Nis, enabled the long-term noise measurements. The procedure of permanent and semi-permanent road traffic noise measurements at eight locations in the City of Nis has been carried out since January 1, 2014. The results of long-term road traffic noise measurements at the main streets of Niš city are presented in this paper as well as the possibility of their presentation in the sense of the Harmonica index.

Effects of self-reported sensitivity and road-traffic noise levels on the immune system.

Sensitivity to noise, particularly road traffic noise, can increase cortisol levels and result in changes in immune system biomarkers. Therefore, continuous exposure to noise can have an effect on immune function, hormonal levels, and cardiovascular function, leading to hypertension and stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in stress-and immune system-related biomarkers according to the self-reported sensitivity to noise and exposure to road traffic noise, to ultimately determine the potential effects of noise on health. A survey was conducted through questionnaire (ISO/TS 15666) sent to 172 female subjects in Korea, including 128 from Ulsan and 44 from Seoul. The average noise level was calculated, and blood samples were collected for measurements of cortisol levels, Natural killer (NK) / Natural killer T (NKT) cell populations, and NK cell activity (through measurements of interleukin-12 (IL-12) and interferon-gamma (INF-γ) concentrations). Multivariate linear regression analysis of the measured biomarkers according to the road traffic noise level and self-reported noise sensitivity was conducted adjusting for the effects of age, alcohol status, smoking status, regular exercise, and residence period. IL-12 levels increased, whereas the NKT cell population decreased with increasing noise levels. The results further suggested that cortisol levels are more influenced by the subject’s sensitivity to noise than to the level of chronic road traffic noise. Therefore, noise appears to have the largest effect on IL-12 levels as well as the population and activity of NKT cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that low-level road traffic noise and sensitivity to noise can affect health by causing changes in the immune response through mechanisms other than increased cortisol.

An Anomalous Noise Events Detector for Dynamic Road Traffic Noise Mapping in Real-Life Urban and Suburban Environments.

One of the main aspects affecting the quality of life of people living in urban and suburban areas is their continued exposure to high Road Traffic Noise (RTN) levels. Until now, noise measurements in cities have been performed by professionals, recording data in certain locations to build a noise map afterwards. However, the deployment of Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks (WASN) has enabled automatic noise mapping in smart cities. In order to obtain a reliable picture of the RTN levels affecting citizens, Anomalous Noise Events (ANE) unrelated to road traffic should be removed from the noise map computation. To this aim, this paper introduces an Anomalous Noise Event Detector (ANED) designed to differentiate between RTN and ANE in real time within a predefined interval running on the distributed low-cost acoustic sensors of a WASN. The proposed ANED follows a two-class audio event detection and classification approach, instead of multi-class or one-class classification schemes, taking advantage of the collection of representative acoustic data in real-life environments. The experiments conducted within the DYNAMAP project, implemented on ARM-based acoustic sensors, show the feasibility of the proposal both in terms of computational cost and classification performance using standard Mel cepstral coefficients and Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM). The two-class GMM core classifier relatively improves the baseline universal GMM one-class classifier F1 measure by 18.7% and 31.8% for suburban and urban environments, respectively, within the 1-s integration interval. Nevertheless, according to the results, the classification performance of the current ANED implementation still has room for improvement.

School locations and road transportation nuisances in Montreal: An environmental equity diagnosis

The analysis of the concentration of the traffic-related pollutants in the environments around elementary schools constitutes an important issue, as children are at school for a large part of the day and are physiologically vulnerable to these nuisances. The study has three main objectives. These are, respectively, to compare the levels of NO2 concentrations and road traffic noise in parcels of land that include a school with the levels for the rest of the Island of Montreal, to determine whether there are significant differences in the values obtained for the air and noise pollution indicators according to the schools' socioeconomic deprivation levels, and to identify, among these schools, those showing the highest levels of pollutants. The methodology was carried out in two stages. The parcels of land that include the 234 elementary schools and the 7,765 inhabited city blocks in the study area were first geocoded, and two air and road traffic noise pollution indicators were then calculated in all of the city blocks in the study area and in all of the parcels that include an elementary school. Our results show that elementary schools, regardless of their level of socioeconomic deprivation, are located in parcels where there is a lower level of road traffic noise but a similar level of NO2 concentration compared with city blocks without schools. However, the NO2 concentration in the parcels that include elementary schools is significantly and positively associated with the schools' socioeconomic deprivation level.

Gestational diabetes mellitus and exposure to ambient air pollution and road traffic noise: A cohort study

BackgroundRoad traffic is a main source of air pollution and noise. Both exposures have been associated with type 2 diabetes, but associations with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have been studied less. ObjectivesWe aimed to examine single and joint associations of exposure to air pollution and road traffic noise on GDM in a prospective cohort. MethodsWe identified GDM cases from self-reports and hospital records, using two different criteria, among 72,745 singleton pregnancies (1997–2002) from the Danish National Birth Cohort. We modeled nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and noise from road traffic (Lden) exposure at all pregnancy addresses. ResultsAccording to the two diagnostic criteria: the Danish clinical guidelines, which was our main outcome, and the WHO standard during recruitment period, a total of 565 and 210 women, respectively, had GDM. For both exposures no risk was evident for the common Danish criterion of GDM. A 10-μg/m3 increase in NO2 exposure during first trimester was, however, associated with an increased risk of WHO-GDM (adjusted odds ratio (OR)=1.24; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03, 1.49). The corresponding OR associated with a 10-dB higher road traffic noise level was 1.15 (0.94 to 1.18). In mutually adjusted models the OR for NO2 remained similar 1.22 (0.98, 1.53) whereas that for road traffic noise decreased to 1.03 (0.80, 1.32). Significant associations were also observed for exposure averaged over the 2nd and 3rd trimesters and the full pregnancy. ConclusionsNo risk was evident for the common Danish criterion of GDM. NO2 was associated with higher risk for GDM according to the WHO criterion, which might be due to selection bias.

Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Hearing Impairment Among Traffic Policemen in Surat, Western India

Among all of the sources responsible for noise pollution, traffic related sources are of great environmental concern and increasing level of discomfort in urban areas with increasing traffic concentration. It will be a larger and serious problem in the future, if effective precautions are not taken addressed and attended to. Hence, a study was undertaken to measure the levels of road traffic noise at major intersections of Surat city, located in Western India and assess the hearing impairment among the exposed group of population i.e. the traffic policemen. Manual noise measurements and vehicle counts were performed at three of the busiest traffic intersections in the city for a period of 12 h. Audiometric screening was done on 46 policemen working at these intersections to determine the occurrence of hearing impairment. At all the three intersections, Leq measured was well above the permissible levels of 65 dBA for daytime. The Lmax recorded for three intersections were 84.6 dBA (07:36 pm), 87.3 dBA (06:32 pm) and 85.6 dBA (11:41 am). Audiometric screening showed that only 10 policemen (22%) had normal hearing. Slight, moderate and severe hearing impairment was recorded among 13 (28%), 18 (39%) and 5 (11%) policemen respectively. Of the total 46 policemen, none had profound impairment (deafness, hearing loss >81 dB). Of the 36 policemen having hearing impairment, 27 had bilateral impairment.

Nocturnal Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Children's Sleep Duration and Sleep Problems.

Almost half of the European Union (EU)’s population is exposed to road traffic noise above levels that constitute a health risk. Associations between road traffic noise and impaired sleep in adults have consistently been reported. Less is known about effects of noise on children’s sleep. The aim of this study was to examine the association between nocturnal road traffic noise exposure and children’s parental-reported sleep duration and sleep problems. The present cross-sectional study used data from The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. Parental report of children’s sleep duration and sleep problems at age 7 was linked to modelled levels of residential night-time road traffic noise. The study population included 2665 children from Oslo, Norway. No association was found between road traffic noise and sleep duration in the total study population (odds ratio (OR): 1.05, 95% confidence interval (CI): [0.94, 1.17]), but a statistically significant association was observed in girls (OR: 1.21, 95% CI: [1.04, 1.41]). For sleep problems, the associations were similar (OR: 1.36, 95% CI: [0.85, 2.16]) in girls. The ORs are presented for an increase of 10 dB. The findings suggest there is an association between road traffic noise and sleep for girls, underlining the importance of protecting children against excessive noise levels.

Long-term associations of modeled and self-reported measures of exposure to air pollution and noise at residence on prevalent hypertension and blood pressure

Air pollution, traffic noise and noise annoyance are suggested to be associated with hypertension and blood pressure (BP); however, the evidence remains inconsistent. Our study examined the long-term associations of modeled and self-reported measures of air pollution and traffic noise on prevalent hypertension and BP. We analyzed cross-sectional data from 2552 participants aged 31–72years from the KORA F4 (2006–2008) study conducted in the region of Augsburg, Germany. Land-use regression models were used to estimate residential long-term exposure to particulate matter <2.5μm (PM2.5), soot content of PM2.5 (PM2.5abs) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Road traffic noise levels at the facade of the dwellings were estimated for the participants' residences. Participants filled-in a questionnaire on noise annoyance and heavy traffic passing their residence. Linear and logistic regression models adjusting for confounders were used to assess the association between exposure measures and hypertension and BP. An interquartile increase in annual mean PM2.5 (1μg/m3) was significantly associated with 15% higher prevalence of hypertension, without (95% CI: 2.5; 28.0%) and with (95% CI: 0.7; 30.8%) adjustment for traffic noise. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was associated with air pollutants and traffic noise with percent increases in mean of 0.7 (95% CI: 0.2; 1.2), 0.6 (95% CI: 0.1; 1.1) and 0.3 (95% CI: 0.0; 0.7) for an interquartile increase in PM2.5 (1μg/m3) and PM2.5abs (0.2∗10−5/m), and 5dB(A) increase in 24-hour road traffic noise, respectively. Associations of PM2.5abs and NO2 with hypertension or DBP were stronger in men and diabetic individuals. No clear associations were seen with systolic BP or noise annoyance. In conclusion, self-reported measures of air pollution or noise did not perform better than the objective measures. Our findings provide further evidence for a link between air pollution, noise and cardiovascular disease and indicate a stronger association for men and diabetic individuals.

Adaptive noise risk modelling: fuzzy logic approach

ABSTRACTRecently, noise pollution has taken place as one of the most human health disorders. The main sources of noise are coming from human malpractices on reckless car driving and the use of loud speakers in different festivals at different places. Behavioural study explores that in many places the local usual road traffic noise level exceeds the normal standards. However, few people have adaptive capacity to ignore the effect of ambient noise pollution within considerable limits. Thus, in this article, we have developed an adaptive traffic noise model over the vulnerable society of a specific noise-prone zone. We develop a fuzzy logic to analyse the noise risk, and then it has been compared by the odds ratio of the experimental data. Moreover, we have considered the normality and non-normality in participation for various noise parameters, namely noise level, exposure time and affected age group of the people of a particular place as well. Finally, graphical illustrations are made for global justification of the model.

Road traffic noise and saliva cortisol levels in adolescents

Introduction: Long term exposure to traffic noise is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and possibly also metabolic diseases. Stress-related mechanisms could be of importance, which might be monitored by cortisol. We analysed levels of saliva cortisol in relation to residential road traffic noise exposure among adolescents. Methods: Using a radioimmunoassay technique, we measured morning and evening saliva cortisol levels in samples of 646 adolescents (mean age=16.5 years) in the BAMSE birth cohort. For each individual, we assessed exposure to residential road-traffic noise during life-time using a newly developed methodology which has been extensively validated. All individuals responded to an extensive questionnaire, also assessing levels of annoyance to noise from traffic. Linear regression was used to analyse associations between residential road traffic noise exposure and saliva cortisol levels. Results: We observed higher morning saliva cortisol levels in females than in males, with geometric means of 42.3 nmol/l and 33.4 nmol/l, respectively (p&lt;0.001). There was no clear association between traffic noise exposure at home and saliva cortisol levels. More females than males were annoyed by road traffic close to their homes (21 vs 14 %) and significant associations were observed between annoyance to traffic noise and morning saliva cortisol levels.

Traffic-related Air and Noise Pollution, Birth Outcomes and Infant Mortality in London

Introduction Traffic pollution comprises toxic air pollutants and noise. Air pollution has been associated with infant mortality, and there is also evidence for small effects on birth weight. Research on noise and birth outcomes is limited, but an association with low birthweight is suggested. This study investigates traffic-related air and noise pollution exposures in relation to birth outcomes and infant mortality. Methods The study population comprises 882713 live births and 5452 stillbirths in the Greater London area from 2003-2010. Monthly concentrations of primary traffic air pollutants (NO2, NOx, exhaust and non-exhaust PM2.5 and PM10) and regional/urban background air pollutants (Ozone, and total PM2.5 and PM10) have been estimated using a dispersion model at 20m x 20m resolution. Time-weighted average air pollution estimates at address-level have been calculated for pregnancy and post-natal time windows. Annual road traffic noise levels have been modeled at address-level using the TRAffic Noise EXposure (TRANEX) model. We are analysing the relationship between air pollutant/noise exposures and birth weight, small-for-gestational-age (SGA), stillbirth and infant mortality, adjusting for potential confounders (e.g. maternal age, smoking and deprivation). Results Mean time-weighted average pregnancy exposures were 75μg/m3 for NOx, 15μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 24μg/m3 for PM10, and mean noise exposures were 58dB (day-time) and 53dB (night-time). Preliminary results suggest that traffic-related air pollution and noise exposures during pregnancy are independently associated with reduced mean birth weight and elevated risk of SGA. Conclusions The study is in progress and will be the largest to date examining environmental noise exposures and birth outcomes. This study combines highly spatially refined address-level exposure assessment for both noise and air pollutants, and will improve understanding of the relative influences of these co-exposures upon fetal/infant health.

Investigation of Ways to Reduce Road Traffic Noise of Apartment Complexes Using Computer Simulation

In the present study, computer simulations were carried out using Sound Plan in order to investigate whether road traffic noise levels in two apartment complexes were less than the outdoor noise criteria [65 dB(A)] The sound isolation tunnel was found to be most effective way for noise reduction in the two apartment complexes, although they each have different building arrangements and road traffic. A noise barrier with a height of more than 12 m was required to meet the outdoor noise criteria in apartment complex A. The continuous noise barrier with a height of more than 10 m and enough distance from the road traffic were required in apartment complex B.

The LifeLines Cohort Study: a resource providing new opportunities for environmental epidemiology.

BackgroundLifelines is a prospective population-based cohort study investigating the biological, behavioral and environmental determinants of healthy ageing among 167,729 participants from the North East region of the Netherlands. The collection and geocoding of (history of) home and work addresses allows linkage of individual-level health data to detailed exposure data. We describe the reasons for choosing particular assessments of environmental exposures in LifeLines and consider the implications for future investigations.MethodsExposure to ambient air pollution and road traffic noise was estimated using harmonized models. Data on noise annoyance, perceived exposure to electromagnetic fields, perceived living environment, and neighborhood characteristics were collected with questionnaires. A comprehensive medical assessment and questionnaires were completed in order to assess determinants of health and well-being. Blood and urine samples were collected from all participants and genome wide association data are available for a subsample of 15,638 participants.ResultsMean age was 45 years (standard deviation (SD) 13 years), and 59 % were female. Median levels of NO2 and PM10 were 15.7 (interquartile range (IQR) 4.9) μg/m3 and 24.0 (IQR 0.6) μg/m3 respectively. Median levels of daytime road traffic noise were 54.0 (IQR 4.2) dB(A).ConclusionsThe combination of harmonized environmental exposures and extensive assessment of health outcomes in LifeLines offers great opportunities for environmental epidemiology. LifeLines aims to be a resource for the international scientific community.

Road traffic noise geography during the night in Montreal: An environmental equity assessment

Key Messages Areas with more low‐income individuals and visible minorities are more likely to be characterized by higher levels of road traffic noise during the night. 5% of the population of the study area live in a city block characterized by a mean value of road traffic noise that exceeds 55 dB(A). Areas with the highest road traffic noise values are located along the major highways of the study area.

Long-term transportation noise annoyance is associated with subsequent lower levels of physical activity

Noise annoyance (NA) might lead to behavioral patterns not captured by noise levels, which could reduce physical activity (PA) either directly or through impaired sleep and constitute a noise pathway towards cardiometabolic diseases. We investigated the association of long-term transportation NA and its main sources (aircraft, road, and railway) at home with PA levels. We assessed 3842 participants (aged 37–81) that attended the three examinations (SAP 1, 2, and 3 in years 1991, 2001 and 2011, respectively) of the population-based Swiss cohort on Air Pollution and Lung and Heart Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA). Participants reported general 24-h transportation NA (in all examinations) and source-specific NA at night (only SAP 3) on an ICBEN-type 11-point scale. We assessed moderate, vigorous, and total PA from a short-questionnaire (SAP 3). The main outcome was moderate PA (active/inactive: cut-off≥150min/week). We used logistic regression including random effects by area and adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and lifestyles (main model) and evaluated potential effect modifiers. We analyzed associations with PA at SAP 3 a) cross-sectionally: for source-specific and transportation NA in the last year (SAP 3), and b) longitudinally: for 10-y transportation NA (mean of SAP 1+2), adjusting for prior PA (SAP 2) and changes in NA (SAP 3-2). Reported NA (score≥5) was 16.4%, 7.5%, 3%, and 1.1% for 1-year transportation, road, aircraft, and railway at SAP 3, respectively. NA was greater in the past, reaching 28.5% for 10-y transportation NA (SAP 1+2). The 10-y transportation NA was associated with a 3.2% (95% CI: 6%–0.2%) decrease in moderate PA per 1-NA rating point and was related to road and aircraft NA at night in cross-sectional analyses. The longitudinal association was stronger for women, reported daytime sleepiness or chronic diseases and it was not explained by objectively modeled levels of road traffic noise at SAP 3. In conclusion, long-term NA (related to psychological noise appraisal) reduced PA and could represent another noise pathway towards cardiometabolic diseases.

The cumulative effect of nuisances from road transportation in residential sectors on the Island of Montreal – Identification of the most exposed groups and areas

Air pollution and road traffic noise are considered to be the two most important nuisances that could negatively affect the quality of life. A prolonged exposure to high concentrations of these pollutants could conduct to various health problems. Studies in environmental equity have often considered these nuisances individually whenever it comes from the same source. The main objective of this paper is to determine if the 15years of age, those aged 65 and over, visible minorities and low income individuals located in a portion of the Island of Montreal are overrepresented in city blocks characterized by having among the highest levels of transportation-related air pollutants (i.e., ambient concentrations of NO2 and road traffic noise in decibels (dB(A)). The results show that low-income individuals and, to a lesser extent, visible minorities, are significantly overrepresented in city blocks characterized by the higher levels of NO2 and road traffic noise in dB(A). Multinomial logistic regression analysis confirms these results, and also shows that young people under 15years are under-represented in the most polluted areas. However, contrary to the previous bivariate results, people aged 65 and over are negatively and significantly associated with the likelihood of their living in a city block located in an advantaged area after controlling for the independent effects of the other explanatory variables. Moreover, visible minorities are significantly overrepresented in advantaged areas. Considering the observed results, some solutions are identified to reduce road traffic noise and air pollution in the city blocks localized near major traffic arteries.